Properties
UK property firm Liberty ponders demerger
(Reuters) - Liberty International (LII.L), Britain’s biggest shopping mall owner, is looking at splitting its portfolio into two separate listed companies as it battles to bounce back from the worst property crash in decades.
The owner of London’s Covent Garden tourist hotspot said on Friday it was evaluating a split of its 6.1 billion-pound ($9.6 billion) portfolio into a shopping centre business and a London properties business, sparking a 1.6 percent share rise to 459 pence.
“Such a transaction requires a number of third-party approvals which have been requested and some of which are currently outstanding,” Liberty said in a statement.
“The board will only be in a position to decide whether to proceed or not once it has progressed these matters further,” the company added, without giving details on the rationale or how the plan might be executed.
Despite owning some of Britain’s most recession proof property assets, Liberty’s balance sheet is seen by some analysts as one of the weakest in the bluechip property sector, where a new era of austerity has replaced years of cheap and easy credit.
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